“Not everybody in California understands how bad this drought is … and how bad it could be. There are communities in danger of running out of water all over the state.”— State Water Resources Control Board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus

The Drought Monitor focuses on broad-scale conditions. Local conditions may vary. See accompanying text summary for forecast statement.

The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that California is experiencing the worst drought since the federal government started releasing drought reports in the 1990s. And according to Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center, this is the worst level of drought that California has had since the 1970s and 1920s.

Earlier this year Governor Brown asked California residences, businesses and public entities …read more